


This Modest Paradise

by Eloarei



Category: One Piece
Genre: Family Drama, Homophobia, M/M, normal life AU, physical violence, sappy mush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-07
Updated: 2012-11-07
Packaged: 2017-11-18 04:57:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/557138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eloarei/pseuds/Eloarei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coby and Helmeppo run into Morgan while shopping.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Modest Paradise

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the harsh "Charidad" poke-meme, because it's so Morgan.

“Then what do you think about these ones?”

“Hm, I dunno. The color doesn't really match the rest of our stuff.” 

Coby frowned and considered the set of curtains, holding it up against the other ones they were thinking of. He looked between the two, trying to imagine them hanging in the bedroom of the freshly-painted new apartment. 

“Why don't we get both of them and see what they look like when we get home?” He glanced at Helmeppo, who shrugged his approval. “Then we'll just bring back whichever ones we don't like.” 

“Fair enough,” the blonde decided, tossing the second set into the basket next to the collection of kitchenware and small appliances. “What next?” he asked, smiling calmly at the pink-haired boy. 

“Um, a shower curtain,” Coby said, consulting his messy notebook-paper list. “And a trash can, so Miko stops getting into the bag we've been using!” 

Helmeppo put his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow at the other, but laughed. “It wasn't my idea to bring that pesky stray with us. You can clean up her messes!” 

Coby shook his head and smiled, crossing his arms behind his back as he turned to lead the way to the next aisle. “I will~.” They'd had the 'argument' about the cat at least ten times in the week since they'd moved, but anyone who could see Helmeppo cuddling the little thing would know it wasn't really an issue. 

“Speaking of Miko,” Helmeppo began, “do you think we should--” He looked up from perusing the cart's contents when he bumped into Coby's back end, and found the boy standing in a truly awkward fight-or-flight pose, eyes locked on the solid human form blocking the aisle in front of him. 

The blonde nearly tripped backward himself, but rooted himself to the cart with a white-knuckled grip. Forcefully, he swallowed the lump that crept up into his throat. “Dad,” he said simply, greeting the intimidating man tensely. 

“ _Son_ ,” Morgan responded, his voice heavy with contempt and sarcasm. “What are you doing here?” 

“Shopping.” The young man turned up his nose and looked at his father indirectly. 

“For this frilly shit?” Morgan pushed passed Coby's frozen form and picked one of the curtain packages out of the cart. The pink-haired boy stepped carefully backward until he'd put Helmeppo between himself and the frightening boulder of a man who stood before them. He softly fumbled for the blonde's hand, eyes wide, wishing for Mogan to leave them alone to their comfortable new life. 

But the man was clearly in the mood to be a pain. “And you're stilling hanging around this little fairy?” He caught Coby's eye, despite the boy's best efforts to avoid looking right at the man, and shot him a spiteful glare. 

“Not 'hanging around', _father_ ,” Helmeppo almost-growled, trying maturely to ignore Morgan's habit of calling Coby rude names, even though he wanted badly to slap him in the face for it. “Living together. We have an apartment now.” True, it wasn't very impressive compared to Morgan's affluent upper-middle class mini-mansion, but it was paradise after the crowded halfway house they'd been staying in since Helmeppo's father essentially tried to kill them both a year or two prior. 

“Haven't given up that disgusting nonsense, yet?” Morgan looked as if he wanted to spit in both of their faces at once. 

Helmeppo squeezed Coby's hand reassuringly. “There's nothing disgusting about our relationship,” he said for them all to hear. “It's a hundred time better than what you had with mom. I don't even know how she put up with you for so long.” He took a slight step backward as his father inched forwards in pre-emptive rage, but couldn't stop talking back even as the fury built in the man's eyes. “She must have been crazy. I would have killed myself years earlier!” 

And then there was blood on the floor, from Helmeppo's cracked nose, and it was smearing into his light hair as Morgan furiously pummeled his son's head into the ground. 

“Helmeppo!” Coby yelled, his higher voice carrying over Morgan's irrational shouts, echoing out into the rest of the store and drawing people almost immediately. Within moments, several larger men had ahold of the enraged father, leaving Coby to pull Helmeppo's poor head onto his lap. Blood was dripping in steady little streams and staining the collar of the blonde's crisp white shirt, as we ll as the corners of Coby's own white jacket, but the beaten young man was still holding on to consciousness. 

“What the hell did you do that for?” Coby asked, still shocked, though he'd anticipated the result of his partner's impulsive behavior. He circled his arms lightly around Helmeppo's head and leaned over it in a loose hug, both extremely relieved and protective. 

“Sorry,” the blonde replied numbly, groggy but grinning slightly. 

“That's not an answer.” The pink-haired boy rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, eyes tearing up a little even as he laughed softly at Helmeppo's stubbornness. 

The security guards came by a moment later to relieve the good samaritans of their struggling burden, and slapped a pair of handcuffs on the still-furious Morgan. Sniffing through the flow of blood, Helmeppo raised his head from Coby's sticky lap to see his father being lead away. He wasn't too far away yet that the victims and bystanders could still hear his last grumbling growl, in all its sour-grapes glory. “At least I won't have to deal with any spineless faggot grandkids.” 

Coby blushed, embarrassed, but Helmeppo just smirked in Morgan's general direction (the blood in his eyes made it a little hard to focus) and leaned up to kiss his boyfriend square on his soft pink lips. Coby “mffph”d for a moment, surprised, but smiled too when he saw the disgusted, drained look on Morgan's face. The man was too far away (and too far gone) to hear his son's soft voice any longer, but the pink-haired boy knew he would have _loved_ Helmeppo's “Hey, Coby, what do you think about adoption?” if he could have heard the sincere but mischievously-whispered question. 

OoOoO

The store was kind enough to hold their cart for them as, understandably, they just wanted to go home after that disaster. Helmeppo was checked out by the paramedics that came by when the police showed up, but he was clear of concussions or any other potentially-dangerous damage, so they retreated back to their little apartment to let the young man recover from his cuts and bruises naturally. 

So they didn't have any nice curtains to block the headlights of the passing traffic, but the plastic blinds would do for now. Besides, Helmeppo wasn't in any mood to complain. Either he was collapsed into a heap under the fluffy comforter, or the bandaged face sticking out from beneath it was grinning faintly. Coby sat half curled up beside him, reading a book by the scant light shining in from the streetlights outside and toying with Miko's tail as she purred happily away on Helmeppo's chest. Coby was mostly day-dreaming by the time the young man beside him finally roused to full consciousness. He'd been smiling even in sleep, so Coby turned on his elbow and asked curiously, smiling, what was so funny. 

“I was thinking about something I wanted to say while we were at the store,” Helmeppo began to explain. He wrestled his arm out from the heavy covers and laid it gently over Miko's back. “I wanted to ask you when my dad was going crazy, but I didn't want it to seem like I was only asking to get on his nerves, even though it would have been funny to see his reaction.” 

Coby laughed, finding Helmeppo's nonsensical humor a little bit infectious, even if (or perhaps because) he didn't quite get what the blonde was on about or why he was suddenly becoming mushy. (Hand-holding in bed? Cute, but not something they normally did.) 

“I wanted to ask you-.” He closed his eyes, but opened them again. “-If you wanted to marry me.” 

The pink-haired boy's laughter became a disbelieving chuckle. “Are you serious?” 

“Of course,” Helmeppo responded, nuzzling closer, still grinning broadly. 

Quirking an eyebrow, Coby asked, “Those paramedics gave you some strong painkillers while I wasn't looking, didn't they?” 

“Mm-hmm.” The blonde sighed happily. “But I'm still serious. Really. Seriously. Will you? Marry me?” 

A wave of warmth washed over Coby, and he huddled closer to Helmeppo under the covers. “Okay,” he said, laughing. “As long as you don't invite your dad to the wedding.” 

“If you insist,” Helmeppo joked. 

Coby wrapped his arms softly around his partner, impossibly comfortable with his modest but perfect life. “ 'I do.' “


End file.
